your first gigs

[shaneoconnor]

so i own a recording studio in boston.

we are a mid level (for boston) facility that caters largely to indie rock and classic rock/pop bands.

we have a decent sized live room with tall ceilings, gobos, ect...

i am thinking i would like to get into audio post for video, maybe starting in low end mocumentary/ reality tv/ whatever kind of thing.

is this gig the kind of thing that has an option for where im at? as far as music goes, i do all right in boston, and people know who i am and are generally into the vibe of the studio.... but i dont know much about the scene with video post.

i did some projects in audio post for video while at berklee but that was .... "project"

enlighten me.

[BVoss]

What kind of work are you writing about? Editorial? Rerecording? Foley? Recording ADR?

[shaneoconnor]

rerecording but i suppose i could do foley/adr. i dont know how much of that is really taking place in way low budget stuff.

[philper]

Originally Posted by shaneoconnor

rerecording but i suppose i could do foley/adr. i dont know how much of that is really taking place in way low budget stuff.

Way low budget, and even a good deal of actually budgeted post work is done by the picture editors themselves on their edit systems any more. (FCP and Avid mostly.) If they are looking for outside help it is because A: they have really serious production audio problems, B: they have a WHOLE LOT of serious production sound problems because the film is long-form (1 hr plus), C: they need some creative thinking about sound design etc. D: they are contracted to provide a lot of deliverables that the editor either can't or won't deal with, and meet the specs their clients have provided. As a business, I can't recommend audio post really--but as a value add to your studio, well, maybe. You'll have to reconfig your control room at least, and what way you do that depends on what work you can attract. One suggestion often made in this situation is to team up with a free-lancer already doing that sort of work and get him to work out of your studio--maybe supplying his gear for this. Read thru Georgia's stickies at the top of the forum--you will see that audio post is just as esoteric as music recording, but different. There is a lot to know. If you have the bug to do it then the marketing is probably similar to your studio--you do lots of low-budg and free work to seed the market, and hope to build up some name recognition. There is at least one successful one-man post operation in your town--Jay Rose. He's actually written some very good books on video audio, and his studio and business setup are good ones for a small studio to emulate.

good luck

Philip Perkins

[shaneoconnor]

philip. thank you

[BrettMorello]

If I understand correctely you want to do post from your current studio?

Some great advice from Philip,. Like he said, when doing post you really want something extra to offer. Fast bits are often done by the video editors themselves on their Avid. I do several reality shows, although I have the impresson more and more of them are being done by the video editors themselves these days) and there you find yourself often more 'saving' the badly recorded sound (no offense to the sound recorders on this forum:) just want to stress out that in reality with lots of people not trained to speak before a camera doing unpredicatble stuff, and many DV cam material that can't provide good sound) than doing creative sound.

But I'm missing the point. What I wanted to say: if you want to use your own facility, be sure it is equipped with the right stuff for post, which is often different from music. Many good sound effect banks at your disposal, maybe good foley material, and especially a good DAW controller and the ability to edit and automate very fast on it. I am a Pro Tools guy, because it just the standard here in post and I have the impression with reading this forum also in most other countries.

And off course, see that you have some sort of video playback. Most of the time I have to dump my results on a betacam tape. Don't know about other workflows and broadcasting standards in your region, so check out if the big investment of a betacam system is necesarry.

[jacobfarron]

I'm still somewhat new to post myself, but I'd say get at least these 2 must have books - Dialog Editing for Motion Pictures - A guide to the Invisible Art by John Purcell & Pro Tools for Video Film and Multimedia by Ashley Shepherd.

Understand common workflows, technology, and most importantly - the methodology, and you'll be set.